Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG), as well as other MPs from all major parties sent a letter to the High Commissioner of the Maldives to the UK. The letter highlights the continued use of flogging for those convicted of extra-marital relations in the Maldives, a practice which has a disproportionate impact on women. Please find the text of the letter below:
24 November, 2015
H.E. Mr Ahmed Shiaan
High Commissioner-Designate of Maldives to the UK
High Commission of the Republic of Maldives
cc: Rt Hon Hugo Swire MP
Minister of State,
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Your Excellency,
We are writing in conjunction with the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) to express our concerns about the continued use of flogging to punish those convicted of extramarital relations in the Maldives, in contravention of international law.
We have been following the recent case of a woman in the Maldives, who received a sentence of death by stoning for a conviction of adultery, and have noted that thankfully the Maldives Higher Court overturned this sentence.
While following the above case, we have been made aware that the Maldives frequently sentences those convicted of extramarital sex to public flogging despite the fact that such prosecutions violate internationally recognised rights to privacy and bodily autonomy, and that such sentences are against some of the most basic human rights standards that prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments.
It is also very worrying that these prosecutions and sentences appear to disproportionately affect women and girls. We understand that authorities more readily accuse women of adultery, in part because visible pregnancies make the allegedly adulterous act more obvious, while men can deny the charges and escape punishment because of the difficulty of proving adultery under Islamic law. In 2011, it was reported that women and girls accounted for 90% of those sentenced for this ‘crime’.
The UN Human Rights Council has repeatedly asked the Maldives to end the practice of flogging women convicted of sex outside marriage and we echo that call.
Finally we are aware that tourism, including from the UK, is a very significant industry for the Maldives. We believe, however, that many women from the UK, and more widely, would feel much less comfortable about visiting if they knew that local women are being flogged for exercising basic human rights that they as visitors are able to exercise while on their holiday there.
We welcome your comments on the matters raised above and hope that the Maldives can bring an end to this practice very soon.
Yours sincerely,
Angela Smith MP
Angela Rayner MP
Ann Clwyd MP
Anna Turley MP
Barbara Keeley MP
Caroline Dinenage MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Corri Wilson MP
Debbie Abrahams MP
Dr Lisa Cameron MP
Dr Sarah Wollaston MP
Emma Lewell-Buck MP
Fabian Hamilton MP
Fiona Bruce MP
Flick Drummond MP
Harriet Harman MP
Heather Wheeler MP
Heidi Allen MP
Helen Grant MP
Helen Jones MP
Helen Whately MP
Jess Phillips MP
Jo Cox MP
Joan Ryan MP
Julie Cooper MP
Karen Buck MP
Karen Lumley MP
Kate Hoey MP
Kelly Tolhurst MP
Liz Saville Roberts MP
Madeleine Moon MP
Margaret Beckett MP
Margaret Ferrier MP
Margaret Ritchie MP
Margot James MP
Maria Caulfield MP
Maria Miller MP
Mary Creagh MP
Meg Hillier MP
Michelle Thomson MP
Natalie McGarry MP
Nicola Blackwood MP (Co-Chair APPG Women, Peace and Security)
Nusrat Ghani MP
Pat Glass MP
Patricia Gibson MP
Philippa Whitford MP
Rachael Maskell MP
Rebecca Pow MP
Ruth Cadbury MP
Sarah Champion MP
Sue Hayman MP
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP
Thangam Debbonaire MP
Valerie Vaz MP
Victoria Prentis MP
Yasmin Qureshi MP